Review: Baskervillen koira
The Hound of the Baskervilles is a raucous comedy about a famous murder mystery
The Hound of the Baskervilles is perhaps one of the most famous Sherlock Holmes adventures written by Arthur Conan Doyle . Over the years, numerous adaptations of the bloodthirsty dog and Holmes, who lurks in the Devon moors, have been made around the world.
Sakari Hokkanen has taken up Ken Ludwig’s comedic adaptation of the original work and directed an excellent comedy about the master detective on the Arena stage of the Helsinki City Theatre.
The story kicks off when Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are called in to investigate the strange death of their wealthy Sir Charles Baskerville. It is rumored that Sir Baskerville has been attacked by a terrifying monster dog that has terrorized the family before.
Soon all eyes are drawn to Sir Henry, the heir of the Baskervilles, whose life is also feared to be threatened. Then we are already whizzing through the foggy lands of the village of Dartmoor, looking for clues.
The Hound of the Baskervilles at the Helsinki City Theatre is a classic murder mystery with a humorous tone, the comedy of which is largely based on physical situational comedy.
The performance features a total of five actors, who grow vastly larger than their numbers due to the numerous double roles of Emilia Sinisalo, Mikko Virtanen and Sauli Suonpää . There are almost forty characters in total. In the final bows, it was almost confusing when “only” five actors thanked me on stage.
The performers do their roles with dedication, but luckily they don’t take themselves too seriously. The real salt of the performance is the actors jumping between several different roles, the quick changes and how the actors cope with all this. As a viewer, finding the murderer is sometimes almost secondary.
Santeri Kinnunen is seen in the role of Holmes and is a great choice for a world-famous detective. Kinnunen’s boyish charisma is perfect for a character like Sherlock Holmes, even though the character itself remains quite distant in the performance.
In terms of plot, Eppu Salminen, who apparently jumped into the role of Dr. Watson at short notice, takes turns with Risto Kaskilahti in the role for the time being. Salminen’s calm interpretation of Sherlock Holmes’ right hand balances the wild absurdity of the rest of the cavalcade of characters.
The stage is also stretched in many ways, designed by set designer Katariina Kirjavainen . During the more than two-hour performance, we will see the foggy and menacing moors of Devon, the rainy streets of London and the ominous corridors of the Baskerville family mansion. Elina Vättö’s detailed costume design completes the picture and is an essential part of juggling between the actors’ roles.
The small size of the audience within the current restrictions is certainly a challenge for the group of performers. Despite this, the actors kept the energy on stage commendably and the audience lived with the performance surprisingly well at times.
Even though the fog around the small village of Dartmoor recedes, the tension of the performance does not want to intensify towards the end, but remains regrettably even. However, in the midst of the oppressive and gloomy corona time, the light-hearted, even farcical Hound of the Baskervilles hits his goal at best and at the same time manages to forget the situation outside the Arena stage.
The murder mystery takes you away and you can easily spend a couple of hours in the English countryside, even if not all the jokes always make you laugh.